Analysis: Roy Moore sucks at riding a horse

Roy Moore wants you to believe in his cowboy bonafides. So much so that he once waved a gun around during a speech while wearing that stupid cowboy hat of his. Moore is a fraud in every other way, so why wouldn’t that apply to his cowboy image? According to a growing calvary of Twitter horse-riding analysts, we may now have an answer.

This Tuesday, Moore arrived on horseback at his polling place in Gallant, Alabama to vote in the special Senate election where his opponent is Democratic candidate Doug Jones. According to Moore, he rides his horse “Sassy” to the polls in every election to “have good favor.”

“I think it’s a good thing to do,” Moore told CNN in September, when he rode Sassy to the polls in his runoff election against Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.). “I won the last time I rode a horse.”

But after video of him careening down a hill with Sassy caught the eyes of quite a few horse aficionados, the consensus was that Moore rides like someone who can barely hang on.

According to Snopes.com reporter Bethania Palma (who also happens to be my sister and who grew up riding horses), Moore could use a few riding lessons.

This guy is trying to play cowboy but has no idea how to ride a horse. He’s grasping the horn like a 3-year-old on a pony ride and pulling back on the reins, probably because he’s scared. That signals the horse to stop. But the horse is moving, meaning he’s confusing it. This horse is hating life right now.

Horse Twitter’s take on Moore’s riding skill was plentiful:

I KNOW THIS ISN'T THE POINT BUT ROY MOORE IS AN AWFUL RIDER, PUT YOUR FUCKING HEEL DOWN AND GET YOUR LEG UNDER YOU AND STOP HAULING ON YOUR HORSE'S MOUTH YOU GODDAMN PEDOPHILE IDIOT

Deadspin’s Hannah Keyser, who has decades of riding experience, broke it down for the rest of us:

A looser rein is to be expected with a Western style of ride but a little less slack—see how far wide he has to swing his hands to navigate the assembled press?—would give the dishonorable judge the increased control this particular situation demands. Beyond that, his failure to steady himself using his seat (sorry to draw your attention there) or even the stirrups, cause him to rely on the reins to stay upright every time Sassy lunges forward. In the simplest terms: Pressure on the reins communicates to a horse that she should slow down or stop while pressure from the rider’s legs communicates that the horse should go or speed up. So while Moore is trying to ride away from the polling place, he’s also jerking his horse in the mouth, giving the animal conflicting signals and acting like a real asshole.